Today we’d like to introduce you to Jewels Aguirre.
Hi Jewels, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Hi, my name is Jewels Jaselle. I am a native of the San Francisco Bay area, currently living in Southern California, Orange County. I started my professional musical career at a very early age when I signed a major recording contract with Giant and Warner. I was one of 5 members of a crossover girl group called 5th Power. That resulted in several releases one of which was on the 90210 show Soundtrack and began touring nationally and internationally.
As a singer and Songwriter, I went on to have placements and other releases as well, one of which was a song called “Life is for Living,” featured on Desperate Housewives which also became the theme song for the TV show “Boystown” and the #1 downloaded song on pay play. FM. My vocal duet of “Vuela Hacia Mi”, and “Come and Fly with me” along with Sony Latin artist Pedro Capo was an “inspired by” international release from the animated movie “Adventures in Zambezia” starring Abigail Breslin, Samuel Jackson, and Jim Cummings. I sang on the soundtrack for the film version of the musical theatre production Rent directed by Chris Columbus under the musical direction of Tim Weil and Rob Cavallo through Columbia Pictures.
After a few years in the music industry, I was locked in a terrible contract (needless to say it is not uncommon in the music industry) that did not allow me to do music anywhere else, so I decided to put music life on pause. It was during that time (almost immediately after) that I stumbled into the world of Voice Over not really knowing what it was in the beginning but just went with it with a little nudge from a friend. I was primarily a singer and an actor not realizing that the perfect marriage of those 2 skills was ultimately VO. As a bilingual speaker (Spanish/English), it was ultimately considered a superpower at the beginning of my career because there was a huge need for fluent Spanish speakers. At the time, I had no idea it would turn into a career, but here we are 20 years plus later and still going strong. That’s enough to say there are no accidents when it comes to your destiny. (it’s as if it chose me as opposed to me choosing it)
Voiceover led me to work with companies like Lucas Arts, Lucas Films, Disney “Jungle Book,” Nickelodeon “Pinky Malinky,” WB, Leapfrog, Activision, Mattel, SEGA, EA, Pepsi, iTunes, and Instagram. Playing lead characters such as Nights for the Nintendo Wii game “Nights Journey of Dreams” and “Sonic All-Stars,” Kira for the game Infinite Space (SEGA), Bratz Pack, the entire “Learn and Groove” line from Leapfrog as well as their company lead character “Leap” in both English and Spanish. I voiced the promo and film trailers for “He Named Me Malala” and “Please like Me”. Hooked on Phonics, Yahoo Messenger, Kaiser Permanente, Guitar Hero, American Girl, and Rainbow High Series. Campaigns for Cadillac, Men’s Wear House, Levi’s, Shoe Dazzle, Google, NBC, Univision, Capital One, Telemundo, Salesforce, Workday, Walmart, Target, Gliss, Hulu, and Pivot TV, have all hired me multiple times throughout my career.
I have been the voice of Dora the Explorer and Daphne in the Scooby Doo video games and played a few different characters in the Netflix anime series Seis Manos alongside Danny Trejo. “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” video game.
As far as on-camera/commercial experience, I’ve worked with clients such as Ford Motor Company, Dodge/Chrysler Corporation, Verizon Wireless, Visa International, Safeway/Vons, Intel, SBC, Sprint, Cisco Systems, Crest, Office Depot, Subway, CA Health Campaign, and Apple. I’ve also made guest appearances on television programs such as Secreto’s on Telemundo and live performances on Latin-based programs such as Onda Max, Despierta America, and Primer Impacto which have attributed to my professional status as a bilingual performer in both music and acting.
Although my own career keeps me quite busy, I still make time to coach other aspiring artists that want to get into the world of Voice Over. I absolutely love to share my knowledge and expertise to develop students’ own niche and voice print in the industry. My students have gone on to work on some pretty big projects as well with some of the aforementioned companies. We’ve all heard the famous quote line from Field of Dreams, “Build it and they will come” right? Well for me “they” were already standing in a line that went around the block. Naturally, the next thing to do was to build my own production company so that we could put an umbrella over what was already taking place. I started Inertia Creative, formerly called Inertia Talent Agency in 2017. Focusing on foreign languages, pre, and post-production including script review/translations, recording, editing, and managing of production for animation series, commercials, learning content, explainer videos, etc. These languages include Spanish, English, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, Portuguese, etc.
This allowed me to bring everything full circle; the relationships I had with clients/companies new and old combined with preparing and developing individuals with great potential to ultimately create a platform so my students could have an opportunity to put their skills to use and thrive!
Lastly, I currently serve on several SAG_AFTRA committees including Next Generation of Performers, LA Communications, Move committee, and Diversity Committee. Though I have a very full schedule, I consider myself lucky to be able to say I don’t have to do this, but I get to do this, and that is the biggest fulfillment of all.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. In 2009 my mother had a massive heart attack along with other health issues that left her bedridden. This event forced me to drop Everything in LA and go back to the bay area to take care of her. Life as I knew it would be changed drastically forever. Following her untimely death in 2012, I struggled with depression and was homeless for about a year. Things were very challenging with 6 figures of medical bills to pay I had no idea what I was going to do. All I had was my faith and a few good friends that were there to help me when I needed it the most.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
There is more to what meets the ear when it comes to Voiceover. Unpredictable schedules, super-fast immediate turnaround times, learning material on the spot (which is what is called “cold reading”), along with having to be flexible with the constant last-minute changes and adjustments in the scripts or copy that are given to us. And since I am bilingual, all of that is doubled because it also applies in Spanish as well as in English. Unlike other forms of the entertainment industry (There are no rehearsals)
I work across the board in all of the main areas of Voice Over, such as commercial campaigns local, regional and national as well as global. Video games, Interactive toys, animation, narration, business explainer videos, as well as singing for jingles and movie soundtracks. Most of the frequent roles I book are younger child/kid voices both boys and girls. The age ranges I can play stem from 3 years to ’40s.
What sets me apart from others is my work ethic. I put my heart and soul into the work I do, and no matter what outside factors take place (i.e., tired not feeling well, or just having a hard day), I push through to make those deadlines and Always turn in high-quality work. I treat Every project no matter how big or small as if it were my own, even including auditions. I pride myself on trying to understand the bigger picture of what’s given to me and look at it from the perspective of who will this potentially help and what the importance of that message needs to be.
I am proud of quite a few things I’ve done in my career including a Grammy nomination, but I think a turning point for me was when I went to a Comi-con years ago and some mothers came up to me, some with tears in their eyes sharing their stories of how their children with Autism or other special needs had major breakthroughs because of the character(s) I created/developed (one, in particular, the voice of Leap for Leapfrog) and they had connected so much it helped them learn to read along with other skills. It was then that I realized I had a responsibility to honor the work I do in ways I had never thought of before.
What’s next?
I am currently in the process of writing and developing my own animation series. I am not at liberty to discuss the details yet, but I’m really excited about the creative team I have put in place and can’t wait to share it with the world. I have always helped others bring their creative visions to life, and I absolutely love doing that, but I feel that it’s my turn to bring my own vision to life now. I am also doing more songwriting and have a licensing deal with Sony BMG to sync and distribute some of my Spanish music.
Pricing:
- One on one Coaching service $100 an hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jewelsjaselle.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewels_jaselle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jewels.Jaselle
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jewels_jaselle
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8wn40AP7Uc3G3qEMHVZdXA/featured
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jewels-jaselle
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6I87zfNCJYwUVfhOSQIJm7
Image Credits
Jeff Janke
Daniel Vogel
Atreyu Key
